SouleMama Sponsor ~ FRANCES ENGLAND ~

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Today, I bring you a giveaway from SouleMama Sponsor, Frances England. In Frances' words:

"Frances England makes indie folk music for families. Her sound has been compared to Norah Jones, Liz Phair, and Feist. Frances also does all of the artwork for her cds and website. Frances’ new CD, Mind of My Own, was released earlier this month and you can listen to the entire album on her website.

You can also check out Frances’ brand new BLOG(diary) where she’s posting Creative Family Challenges - musical “assignments” designed to get families to take 10-30 minutes a week to do something creative together."

SouleMama: Tell us about your background. What path led you into making music for kids and families?

Frances England: Well, I kind of fell into the family music scene by accident. My son Liam was at a cooperative preschool here in San Francisco and I recorded my first CD, Fascinating Creatures, as a fundraiser for the school. I had a little collection of songs because Liam and I had this great routine: he would take baths and I would pull up a stool beside the tub, strum on my guitar, and write songs about our day. My husband’s cousin offered to record them for me, so we did and I started “manufacturing” the cds with my computer, a rickety papercutter, and a Sharpie.

I never imaged that anyone outside of our family and friends would hear Fascinating Creatures, but within a matter of months, word-of-mouth and the Internet took this little homespun recording to some faraway places. I started getting orders from little independent shops in Australia, Europe and Asia and couldn’t believe that these songs (the ones I’d written in our bathroom) were being played in places I couldn’t even pronounce. Before the end of the year, Fascinating Creatures was named the winner of the 2007 Oppenheim Platinum Music Award and one of the “Best CDs of the Decade” by AOL. I was stunned and grateful, and realized that I’d found something I loved to do.

SouleMama: At what age did you become interested in performing music?

Frances England: To be completely honest, I was never interested in performing. I’m a behind the scenes kind of girl and getting on a stage has never been easy for me. In fact, when I first started getting asked to play out, I couldn’t do it. I was too shy and the thought of getting up before a group of people (no matter what their age) just terrified me. But then I realized that my kids were watching me turn down invitations to do something I love - singing - because I was afraid. So I pushed myself way out of my comfort zone and started small, first playing at our coop preschool and then at branch libraries, and in the last couple of years at Lollapalooza and the Austin City Limits festivals, which is just crazy! I still can’t believe what a wild and unexpected u-turn my life has taken because of music.

But that’s what’s so great about the family music scene — the kids make it so much fun and the performance isn’t really about me. It’s about a community of families coming together to sing and dance and laugh and be. When I frame it like this, it’s a lot easier for me to do and I think I’m finally getting to the place where the joy of the performance outweighs my nerves of being on stage.

SouleMama: What inspires you?

Frances England: I feel like there is inspiration everywhere and it’s really more about me being in the right state of mind to see it, feel it, and draw from it. As a mom, it’s easy for me to get caught up in the rushing around of everyday craziness - school, homework, carpools, soccer, etc. and lose sight of the wonder and beauty right in front of me. But I always find that when I give myself and my kids the time to look and examine what’s around us, we all get filled up and that’s usually when songs just start spilling out left and right.

For today's giveaway, Frances England is generously offering the following to THREE winners:

signed copies of Frances’ cds - Fascinating Creatures, Family Tree and Mind of My Own ANDA personalized "Mind of My Own" print

(Frances has a kindie artwork series based on her songs. This print is a digital reproduction of a paper cut collage and can be PERSONALIZED for the little one in your life with a mind of his/her own. Paper size is 8.5” x 8.5” and fits nicely into a 9x9 square frame with 5x5 mat opening. Printed with Epson archival pigment inks on natural fine art paper.)

To enter, please leave a comment in today's post (one entry per person, please). Comments will close on Monday by 8am EST. Comments closed! Winners will be announced here in this post by end of day on Monday.

Comments

SouleMama Sponsor ~ FRANCES ENGLAND ~

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Today, I bring you a giveaway from SouleMama Sponsor, Frances England. In Frances' words:

"Frances England makes indie folk music for families. Her sound has been compared to Norah Jones, Liz Phair, and Feist. Frances also does all of the artwork for her cds and website. Frances’ new CD, Mind of My Own, was released earlier this month and you can listen to the entire album on her website.

You can also check out Frances’ brand new BLOG(diary) where she’s posting Creative Family Challenges - musical “assignments” designed to get families to take 10-30 minutes a week to do something creative together."

SouleMama: Tell us about your background. What path led you into making music for kids and families?

Frances England: Well, I kind of fell into the family music scene by accident. My son Liam was at a cooperative preschool here in San Francisco and I recorded my first CD, Fascinating Creatures, as a fundraiser for the school. I had a little collection of songs because Liam and I had this great routine: he would take baths and I would pull up a stool beside the tub, strum on my guitar, and write songs about our day. My husband’s cousin offered to record them for me, so we did and I started “manufacturing” the cds with my computer, a rickety papercutter, and a Sharpie.

I never imaged that anyone outside of our family and friends would hear Fascinating Creatures, but within a matter of months, word-of-mouth and the Internet took this little homespun recording to some faraway places. I started getting orders from little independent shops in Australia, Europe and Asia and couldn’t believe that these songs (the ones I’d written in our bathroom) were being played in places I couldn’t even pronounce. Before the end of the year, Fascinating Creatures was named the winner of the 2007 Oppenheim Platinum Music Award and one of the “Best CDs of the Decade” by AOL. I was stunned and grateful, and realized that I’d found something I loved to do.

SouleMama: At what age did you become interested in performing music?

Frances England: To be completely honest, I was never interested in performing. I’m a behind the scenes kind of girl and getting on a stage has never been easy for me. In fact, when I first started getting asked to play out, I couldn’t do it. I was too shy and the thought of getting up before a group of people (no matter what their age) just terrified me. But then I realized that my kids were watching me turn down invitations to do something I love - singing - because I was afraid. So I pushed myself way out of my comfort zone and started small, first playing at our coop preschool and then at branch libraries, and in the last couple of years at Lollapalooza and the Austin City Limits festivals, which is just crazy! I still can’t believe what a wild and unexpected u-turn my life has taken because of music.

But that’s what’s so great about the family music scene — the kids make it so much fun and the performance isn’t really about me. It’s about a community of families coming together to sing and dance and laugh and be. When I frame it like this, it’s a lot easier for me to do and I think I’m finally getting to the place where the joy of the performance outweighs my nerves of being on stage.

SouleMama: What inspires you?

Frances England: I feel like there is inspiration everywhere and it’s really more about me being in the right state of mind to see it, feel it, and draw from it. As a mom, it’s easy for me to get caught up in the rushing around of everyday craziness - school, homework, carpools, soccer, etc. and lose sight of the wonder and beauty right in front of me. But I always find that when I give myself and my kids the time to look and examine what’s around us, we all get filled up and that’s usually when songs just start spilling out left and right.

For today's giveaway, Frances England is generously offering the following to THREE winners:

signed copies of Frances’ cds - Fascinating Creatures, Family Tree and Mind of My Own ANDA personalized "Mind of My Own" print

(Frances has a kindie artwork series based on her songs. This print is a digital reproduction of a paper cut collage and can be PERSONALIZED for the little one in your life with a mind of his/her own. Paper size is 8.5” x 8.5” and fits nicely into a 9x9 square frame with 5x5 mat opening. Printed with Epson archival pigment inks on natural fine art paper.)

To enter, please leave a comment in today's post (one entry per person, please). Comments will close on Monday by 8am EST. Comments closed! Winners will be announced here in this post by end of day on Monday.

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Greetings! I'm Amanda Blake Soule - mother of five, author of three books on family creativity, and editor-in-chief of Taproot Magazine. I live with my family in an old farmhouse in Western Maine where we raise animals, grow vegetables and make lots of things. I write about it all here on the blog. Thank you for visiting!